Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-04-30
SPRING WORK IN THE CORN FIELD.
Nc Sure Remedy for the Hog Plague Yet
Found. Average Yields of Eggs. How
TO Grow Strawberries.

W NV
April is the month during which the
ground is made ready for corn, and the
earlier the blowing shall De done the
better, as n heavy frost before the sea-
son shall become worm assists in re-
ducing the soil and destroying insects.
II is well known that the corn plant is
a gross feeder, and may be supplied
with any amount of manure provided
such be well rotted and in a condition
best adapted as plant food. The corn
crop is one that does not permit Of the
expenditure of unnecessary labor, and
wherever the cultivator can be used the
hoe should be discarded. 1t is not in
tended here to inform farmers how TO
plant corn, or how TO lay off the field
and rows, as such advice would be SUI
p%erfluous, but there are some things
connected with corn growing that are
usually overlooked, and TO which it is
not out of place to call attention. First,
it will be of no advantage to resort to
new varieties until such shall have been
tested and found suitable for the eli
mate and soil to which they may be in
troduced. 1t is well known that the
difference in the time from termination
to ripening between some varieties
will often cause a loss, es-
pecially when the season shall
have been dry and the frosts come
early in the fall. The corn plant is a
semi-tropical one, and delights in
warmth. 1t is during the period when
the nights are warm that it makes ra-
pid growth, and as 1t must, in some
sections, mature in ninety days, the
matter of variety is very important.
Hence farmers should be careful before
discarding the well-known kinds.
Another point IS that although the
roots penetrate in all directions, and
become very numerous, it is not safe to
depend altogether up, n the manure, as
very frequently the manure does not de-
compose until after the crop has been
removed. La order to give the plants
a start, no matter how fertile the soil
may be, a proportion of some kind of
soluble fertilizer should be applied
when the ground is prepared. A mix
ture of a bag of superphusphate with
fifty pounds of nitrate of soda (saltpe-
fran ,Nnr anro ,yill ha fp,,pl nvnnllnnt
Good cultivation not only keeps down
the grass and weeds, but serves as a
mulch. For that reason the cu~ltivator
should be used in dry seasons, AS the
loosened earth will serve a. n covering
over the roots, and not only prevent
moisture by evaporation to a certain
extent, bit more readily absorb mois-
ture from the atmosphere, as well as
permit the retention of a larger amount
of moisture from showers. The cul-
tivator is n great factor in corn culture.
and should be used as often rs posi-
bic.
THE SWINE PLAGUE.
The losses from hog cholera in In
diana alone for the past year are esti-
mated to amount to fully $4,000, 900.
And the destruction from it in the
other pork producing states is reckoned
equally extensive, o is the great seri-
s of the losses disposed to be
questioned in any quarter. Senator
Van Wyck made n proposition when
the bill for the extirpation of the cattle
disease was up before the senate, that
the legislation in regard to that conta-
gion should include Legislation for re-
lief from hog cholera also. But those
most competent to speak in the matter
oppose any such plan, for the reason
that pleuro pneumonia is q foreign dis
ease which has not yet widely spread
itself in this country, and, therefore.
can be effectually stamped out and
kept out by the employment of prompt
and positive measures. The design is
to prevent the spread Of this contagion
to the large cattle ranges. where it
would almost inevitably establish itself
beyond the power OF eradication. More
than that, it is a disease that is thor
oughly understood, and it is definitely
known how to proceed to overcome it.
The swine plague is not so well I'M
derstood, and therefore cannot be pro-
ceeded against practically until a more
extended experience and much wider
and more careful observation have en-
abled US to designate the practical
measures proper to be taken in contest
ing it. They are trying to stamp 1t out
in England new by quarantine and
slaughter, but with no very promising
results. Experiments are likewise be-
ing made there with incubation, but
even should these be a success the
practice cannot be made a general one
among farmers for obvious reasons.
So it is still a matter of pure conjecture
to know what is the effe ctive thing first
to do, and afterwards how to do it.
The utmost of all present knowledge
respecting hog cholera is very far
from containing the elements of n
theory for combating it successfully.
TO GRO STRAWBERRIES.
III. xDas- ,~1;~@. -~l-ol -.